Uluru Tours & Vacations

Trips from 1 January 2023 onwards

From 1 January 2023, Intrepid will no longer require travellers to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 (excluding all Polar trips and select adventure cruises).

However, we continue to strongly recommend that all Intrepid travellers and leaders get vaccinated to protect themselves and others.

Specific proof of testing or vaccination may still be required by your destination or airline. Please ensure you check travel and entry requirements carefully.

The Anangu (pronounced arn-ung-oo) people are the traditional owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and other regions of the Central Western desert.

They've been custodians of the land for over 60,000 years and are one of the world's oldest living cultures.

For the Anangu people, Uluru and Kata Tjuta are places of deep spiritual connection; they are physical evidence of Tjukurpa (the creation period) and the ancestral spirits who reside in the land.

All of our Uluru trips start in Yulara (a resort town on the outskirts of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park) or Alice Springs. The quickest way to get to Uluru is to fly to Yulara. You can fly direct from a few Australian cities including Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns with Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia.

You can fly direct to Alice Springs from most major Australian cities including Brisbane, Darwin and Adelaide (flights are generally more frequent from Alice than Yulara). From here, it's a 465 km (5.5 hours) drive to Uluru.

If your tour finishes in Yulara, we can drop you off in Alice Springs (at no additional cost), with an arrival back in town at around 6:30 pm.

Yes, climbing Uluru was banned permanently on 26 October 2019 to respect the traditional owners and the spiritual significance of the site. The Anangu people have been holding spiritual and cultural ceremonies at Uluru for tens of thousands of years, and climbing is not generally allowed under Tjukurpa (Anangu law and culture). We think the views are better from down below, anyway.

Yes, drinking tap water is safe in Alice Springs, Yulara and throughout the Red Centre. Ensure you bring a 1-2 litre reusable water bottle to refill at the water stations dotted around Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Staying hydrated is important as the Outback sun is intense and you'll be doing a fair bit of walking during the day.

You can withdraw cash at a number of ATMs in Alice Springs. There's also an ATM in the Town Square at Ayers Rock Resort in Yulara. Most of the highway roadhouses will have an ATM or the option to get cashback.

Layering is key in the Outback. The days are warm or hot all year so t-shirts and shorts are fine, however the temperature can drop at night so you'll need long pants and a warm jumper and/or jacket for sunrise and sunset. You’ll also need a comfy pair of walking shoes, a wide-brimmed sun hat, a day pack, sunscreen, lip balm and a reusable water bottle.

Uluru is awe-inspiring come rain or shine, but the best time to visit is generally between May and September when the days are dry and warm (but not scorching). Uluru sits in a semi-arid desert climate zone, so summer is sweltering with occasional storms (the amount of rainfall varies from year to year), while winter is warm and dry during the day with cold nighttime temps that often plummet below zero.

You may have heard Australia's most famous landmark also being called Ayers Rock. However, the traditional custodians of Uluru, the Anangu people, have always called it Uluru. The first non-Aboriginal person to see Uluru was explorer William Gosse in 1873. He named it Ayers Rock in honour of his superior Sir Henry Ayers, the Chief Secretary of South Australia.

The rock was officially renamed Ayers Rock / Uluru in 1993, but it was renamed again in 2002 to Uluru / Ayers Rock to show respect for the Anangu people and acknowledge their custodianship of the land. We use the traditional name for this reason, and you'll also see the traditional name used throughout the national park.

The word 'Uluru' comes from the Pitjantjatjara language and has no direct English translation.

The Red Centre covers a huge, very remote area of Central Australia. We'll spend many hours driving from A to B in an air-conditioned vehicle. Make sure you bring ample snacks and maybe a few podcasts to listen to – or use it as an opportunity to get to know your fellow travellers. With a comfortable, air-conditioned bus, sit back and enjoy the unique desert landscapes that you'd miss in any other form of travel.

It depends on the trip style you choose. Our Basix and Original trips feature simple (but comfy) camping accommodation in permanent or semi-permanent tents with stretcher beds and shared facilities, or a mixture of camping and budget hotels.

If you choose a Comfort or Premium trip, you'll stay in 3-to-4-star hotels and resorts with private amenities.

Cell phone and data signal within Ayers Rock Resort and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is pretty good (Ayers Rock Resort also offers free Wi-Fi). You can usually pick up a few bars at the roadhouses, too, although some network providers tend to be better than others.

Expect the signal to be patchy or completely cut off when you're on the road or exploring more remote places like Kings Canyon or Tjoritja/West MacDonnell National Park. But hey, with views like these, we don't think you'll mind switching off for a few days.

You can use a credit or debit card for purchases in most roadhouses, shops and restaurants in the Red Centre. However, it's always handy to have cash for smaller purchases.

You might also want to withdraw money if you're interested in buying artwork from local First Nations artists. Artists often sell beautiful, hand-painted tapestries in the gardens near Town Square in Ayers Rock Resort, and at the sunset viewing area. It's a great way to take a little piece of Uluru home with you.

• The formations are approximately 500 million years old

• The rock (Uluru) you see is only the tip of the, er, monolith. The rock mass extends up to 6 kilometres underground
• Uluru is 348 meters tall (for reference, that's taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Chrysler Building in New York or the Eureka Tower in Melbourne)
• The circumference of Uluru is 9.4 km and it takes around 3 to 4 hours to walk depending on your fitness level
• The traditional owners of Uluru and Kata Tjuta are the Anangu people
• Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is home to over 400 plant species and 21 species of mammals
• The rocks get their orangey-red colour from the oxidized iron minerals

Uluru is often referred to as the spiritual heart of Australia, not only because of its middle-of-the-country location but also for its great significance to Australia’s First Nations people (and more specifically to the Anangu, the traditional owners of Uluru). And for this reason, there are restrictions on what you can and can't do at Uluru. These restrictions include taking photos at sacred sites, swimming in waterholes around the base, and not calling Uluru by its colonized name, Ayers Rock.

We are committed to making travel widely accessible, regardless of ability or disability. We do our best to help you see the world, regardless of physical or mental limitations. 

We are always happy to talk to travellers with disabilities and see if we can help guide them toward the most suitable itinerary for their needs and, where possible, make reasonable adjustments to our itineraries.